MATERNITY AND BABY SHOPPING

 

 

MATERNITY SHOPPING

 

After find out you are pregnant you are probably anxious to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe of maternity clothes and search for things for baby. I strongly wouldn't recommend you start buying maternity clothes until you are starting to slightly show or there is a very good sale. I'm on my second pregnancy and know how heart breaking it can be to go out and buy a whole wardrobe at the end of three months and find out it'll be months before I can wear them. I was in the mid 5 months with my first child before I could wear maternity clothes and actually look slightly pregnant and I was in the middle of 4 months with my second child before I didn't look silly wearing maternity clothes. I found it very depressing and extremely frustrating putting on a cute maternity top every week and find it looked awful. It was kind of like the feeling when you gain weight and can't fit into your favorite shirt or pair of pants and you try it on often to see if it fits yet. Feelings like that are something you really don't need during pregnancy. If you do happen to find a very good sale at a local store then by all means take advantage of it but hide the clothes when you get home so you won't be tempted to try things on.

If you do feel like you are ready to go out and buy maternity clothes by all means DO NOT START WITH ON-LINE STORES! I have done a lot of research and have found almost all on-line maternity clothes stores to be the same. They charge $60-$80 for one dress,$50 for a pair of maternity pants or jeans,$24 -$40 for one maternity shirt,$7 for one pair of maternity underwear, and close to $30 for one nursing bra. You need at least 5 to 6 outfits during pregnancy, at least 2 nursing bras and 4 pairs of maternity underwear and to be honest I'd rather not have anyone spend hundreds of dollars on clothes you are only going to be wearing for six to seven months and then have them packed away for years until you're pregnant again. To me that's just insane, not to mention you'll need all that extra money for baby items and other things. The best thing to do when it comes to maternity shopping is to go to your local K-Mart,or Wal-Mart. I wouldn't try Target mainly because they have limited selection and high prices. At least one store should have maternity clothes and they are good quality, adorable, comfortable and very affordable. Plus I believe they change their maternity line month by month. My local K-Mart store has a nice selection of maternity clothes and I believe they are cheaper than other stores. Unfortunately both K-Mart and Wal-Mart won't have a very wide selection but its enough to pick outfits that will last your pregnancy. With the clothes I have seen at K-Mart, dresses are around lower $20's,stretch pants are $8-10,maternity jeans are $15-19, and shirts range from $9-$20. Nursing bras are around $9-20 and packs of 3 maternity underwear are $8.

If you don't have a K-Mart or Wal -Mart near you, you can always order through their web site which is still rather inexpensive. Here are links to their maternity section of their web site which gives you pictures of what the clothes actually look like. Later on I'll add pictures of what I have ordered.



K-Mart

www.Bluelight.com

 

 



Wal-Mart-

www.walmart.com



BABY SHOPPING



Being in my second pregnancy I've known that as soon as the reality of being pregnant and having a baby sinks in I get to a point were I can't walk buy anything related with a baby without wanting to go on a buying spree to prepare for the new arrival. I've found most women at some point in their pregnancy go through the same thing and actually end up in tears going around the baby section. Right after you find out the gender of the baby the urge to go out and buy gets stronger. Unfortunately the best thing to do is resist the urge to shop as much as you can except for things to decorate the nursery with. I mainly say that because there is a strong chance that someone in your family will throw a baby shower for you. A baby shower is basically when all the women in your family get together and throw a party celebrating your pregnancy. Each female member brings a gift for the unborn bundle of joy for you to open to help you start your preparation for the new arrival. The reason why its best to wait before buying anything until the baby shower is because most often than not you'll get most of what you need at the shower including diapers, wipes, bouncers, car seats, clothes and much more. With my first pregnancy both my family and my church through a baby shower for me at separate times and after the baby showers and plenty of hand me downs from my sister in-law's kids, I had almost everything I needed, most of it was just from the shower alone. Unfortunately baby showers are usually thrown a month or two before your due date which gets very frustrating if you are a person who likes to plan ahead.




The good thing about baby showers is just like wedding showers, you can register and choose the things you'd like to receive. I have only found two places that do baby registration but I'm sure that there are other baby stores in your area that may do them. My favorite place to register is Babies R Us. Babies R Us is a sister store of Toys R Us and it's a really wonderful place to find a huge selection of baby necessities from the little things such as bottles and safety plugs to clothes,toys, car seats, cribs, swings and more. To register all you have to do is submit some information at their registration desk, take a scanner around the store, scan the bar code of what ever you would like on your registration list, you turn in the scanner and they make a copy of everything you scanned for yourself. When I registered for my first pregnancy in 98 they gave me cards to send to others saying I had registered at Babies R Us and all my relatives had to do was go into any Babies R Us store, give them my last name and my relative would get a print out of what I had put on my registration list and how much each item cost. Relatives can also go to BabiesRUs.com, put in your last name and get your registration list on-line. If there is not a Babies R Us store near by your relative they can order on-line.


If you are just shopping at Babies R Us be cautious because some things may be a little pricey, so if you are on a budget compare prices at other stores. I've found some items at the store will be a bargain compared to another store's price and vice versa. The one thing I do love about Babies R Us is they have Maternity/New Mom parking infront of the store. I have found it to be a challenge when I was in the last few months of pregnancy and we had to park what felt like miles away and by the time we got to the store I was so worn out and hurt from the walk. I think it should be a law that every parking lot should have maternity/new mom parking spaces just like handicapped since pregnant women are in a sense just as fragile and important as the handicapped.

Babies R Us also has a catalog you can order either on-line or through the mail at
Babies R Us
461 From Road
Paramus, NJ 07652-9961

www.babiesrus.com

Target is another store that does baby registration. I have not personally used it but I have heard from others who have used it that they have had a lot of problems with it. After they have registered, family members have gone to find their registration list only to find its not there or the things on their list is not what they had put there.


Here is a list of some other baby stores that maybe located in your area.

Wal-Mart: Some stores may sell more than others but I have found that they have a pretty good deal and selection on baby clothes.

K-Mart: Same as Wal-Mart.

Baby USA- Mainly specializes in cribs and nursery furniture. I wouldn't recommend shopping there unless you have a unlimited budget.

Baby Town

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